the pitch clock is counting down to the MLB 2023 REGULAR SEASON THREAD

cubs have swept the pirates in two separate series this month. that plus an 11-game winning streak for the reds have jumbled up the nl central standings again

Yeah they’re 8-2 in their last ten. They would have swept the Orioles as well but they threw away the last game of that series because Taillon had another horrible start and they fucked themselves with risp.

The most impressive thing about this improbable streak by the Reds, I'd say, is that it's now longer than anything the mid-'70s teams put together.

Joey Votto is coming back so don't expect the Reds to lose anytime soon

well...I should say...he's back

Reds finally called up their top prospects they were playing service games with and they are raking like there's no tomorrow.

Does Elly de la Cruz deserve his own thread, he seems like a big deal.

He does

I’m stoked the reds saw their moment and took it. Nice to see them call people up and it have an immediate effect

xxp yes!

Elly De La Cruz is raking in Cincinnati

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzMTg1_XgAMVK6z?format=jpg&name=large

sheehan:

The baseball season has to be more about the journey than the destination, more than just a seven-month slog to make one team’s fans happy and 29 teams’ fans mad. The Pirates’ hot start, the A’s seven-game winning streak, the Luis Arraez chase for .400, the Marlins winning 12 one-run games in a row, and yes, the Reds being in first place in late June...it’s all part of the ride, even if none of it lasts. There’s more to baseball than rings and parades, more to baseball fandom than winning the World Series. There’s the ride, and right now, the ride is amazing.

No love for the first place dbacks though

Great quote Tracer. As a Dodgers supporter it is vindicating that the world ignores the Dbacks (yes this is what toxic fandom looks like). Unbelievable that they just won’t lose. NLwest far from over though, going to be a great race between the Dodgers/Dbacks/Giants going into the second half.

I see "Dbacks" and think "Dbags."

I have to force myself not to write it tbh

Having an all-new set of teams in the playoffs this year would be ideal imo. Kind of sick of Braves, Dodgers, Yankees, Astros, etc.

It seems very very likely that we see the Rangers/Cinny/Orioles/Dbacks in the post season. Marlins and Angels are a maybe. Seems like a nice 50%~ turnover in playoff teams this year. Love to see it

I don't think you can count out the Phillies, Dodgers and Giants either

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fza1WSEWYAArBwZ?format=jpg&name=large
Yeah, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fza1eYOWYAMPitS?format=png&name=small

lmao check the Angels score right now

Bottom of the 4th!

Ohtani is 1-5 if you're wondering

I think the Rockies were mathematically eliminated by the second week of the season.

morale can't be great in Colorada right now

The @Angels are the only MLB team in the modern era to score 20+ runs over a span of 2 innings.

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) June 25, 2023

in terms of margin of defeat this would rank as the second-worst broncos loss of the last two years and the fifth-worst nuggets loss of the last two years. the rockies are a baseball team and the game’s barely half over pic.twitter.com/F7hWlt8Ltm

— Jon Bois (@jon_bois) June 25, 2023

the angels were collectively worth 2.0 fWAR today

well,

(1/x)

I don't know what's more bizarre: the 23 runs in four innings, or two relievers with ERAs both over 10.00 holding them to two runs over the next five innings (and throw in Ohtani going 1-7, too).

k nobody asked but I want to post about seeing the Cubs-Cards in London today! I’m putting this shit behind a hide tag so you can opt in to read this shit.

- it was hot AS fuck
- user Fizzles ended up coming as a ph for my better half (sick!) and was on the receiving end of both me and user Tracer Hand telling him about all our faves past and present at a pre-game drink
- were talking about Ichiro and saw a guy in a Mariners Ichiro jersey and Yankees cap (?) I looked delighted, he looked back at me, I was like, love Ichiro & he smiled huge and was like, legend
- more of this scintillating banner to follow
- shirts from every fanbase represented, Cubs mainly Swanson, Rizzo, Bryant, Stroman. Saw a TON of Stroman Blue Jays (ok ten but that’s a lot! Too bad he pitched like shit today). Cards were mainly Arenado (by a mile???), a few Yadi & Pujols. Saw quite a few Dodgers Bellinger shirts.
- the game itself? Why I’m glad you asked! Cubs started out strong, but then Stroman fell off, Cubs defence made some absolute dogshit plays, Cards ground through the bullpen in pretty short order.
- some pretty weird errors/dogshit plays not ruled as errors. Arenado had an absolutely awful throw at one point that led to a run scoring and I was like, REALLY NOLAN YOU HAVE TEN GOLD GLOVES
- Hoerner had the sweetest play in the 8th, a beauty of a catch and slide to get a runner to 1st.
- Nootbaar got huge huge cheers every time he stepped up.
- Stroman got the biggest cheer on the Cubs team, which surprised me? Though he has been dealing for them during his time there.
- also user Tracer Hand bought me some crackerjack like in the song, do you see what he did there
- Contreras got booed constantly, lmao.
- morel is a baby! One of his fun scoreboard facts was that he celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday by getting three hits and an rbi :)
- Contreras responded to the boos by going 4-4, have to hand it to that heel.
- Liberatore Not Great on the mound, got pulled after giving up 4 runs but Cards bullpen managed to only allow 1 run for the last six innings
- Cody Bellinger didn’t start but they put him in the third & he went 1-3. Love that little stoner
- speaking of little stoners, had my giants cap on, man on the way out wearing a Giants cap tipped his cap to me, I did the same back, then he walked past and I noticed he was wearing 55 and I went, no lie, THAT’S TIMMY THAT’S MY BOY! I would like to blame this on sunstroke or dehydration rather than the fact that I’m not capable of being normal about Tim Lincecum in public
- the queue for the water fountains was about ten years long, talked to about twenty different people in the queue, lovely crowd
- saw a man in a Kerry Wood shirt on the way to the train, but he disappeared into the crowd before I could give him props. Lucky escape for the fan of King K!
- tl;dr A DAMN FINE DAY WATCHING AMERICA’S PASTTIME IRL

It sounds like an amazing time, loved the Timmy story

In response to questions about the Mets' Tuesday starter, a dodging Buck Showalter said: "What is it with knowing about things before they happen? ... Do you want to know about when you’re going to die?"

— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) June 25, 2023

I wouldn't mind a heads-up on that.

glad you had a good time gyac.

it was a blast! i shamefully abandoned my scorecard after the second inning. i blame my kids and their instant pestering for things like WATER and FOOD smh

Scoreboard operator was as bad as they come tbf, don’t blame you for not wanting to keep up with the errors. Also that insanely bad initial out call we saw looked even worse on TV!

An actual MLB umpire called Morel out. Overturned but what the hell. pic.twitter.com/mubYLAWl70

— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthewCFB) June 25, 2023

Glad you all had a good time! There is nothing quite like watching a game live. My youngest and I went to the Twins-Braves last night, had a fantastic time notwithstanding the traffic clusterfuck getting in and out of the ballpark

I don't think you can count out the Phillies, Dodgers and Giants either

Based on the way they are playing now, I would not count the Braves out at all. They look like the strongest NL contender to win the pennant.

Both The Athletic and 538 have the Braves as the best team in baseball right now; Sports Illustrated has them #2.

mlb.com has them at #2 in their power rankings, just under the Rays. I expect Fox Sports will have them at #1 in their next rankings.

At the halfway mark and BOS (#5 in the AL East) has a marginally better record than CLE (#1 in the AL Central).

I listened to this story half awake on the podcast Baseball Isn’t Boring yesterday and it still seems really fucking wild to me:

Part of today's @BBisntBoring podcast was talking to Kenley Jansen about Rob Manfred's handling of the Astros' cheating scandal. Listen to Kenley's take ...
➡️https://t.co/LIvjwINgfe pic.twitter.com/mNpUY3TfGF

— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) June 28, 2023

“I feel like that was my best season that I ever had in my career,” Jansen said. “I dominated the whole year, I dominated the playoffs and the Houston Astros were the only ones who put the ball in play. And it’s over with, you know, you can’t change stuff, but what we can do is appreciate when someone steps up and comes forward and is accountable for what they did.”

According to WEEI, Cora did just that “the minute” Turner, Hernandez and Jansen arrived for spring training in Fort Myers, Fla. Cora told WEEI that Turner approached him afterward and said, “I’m glad you did this.”

“I think it meant a lot,” Turner told WEEI of the meeting. “It was good to hear and good to wipe our hands clean and move forward.”

astros @ rangers / marlins @ braves should be interesting series this wkend

I’ve only watched the Twins play about five times this season and every single time I was kind of shocked how bad Correa looked, but I had no idea he was having such a poor season:

.212/.287/.403, OPS of .690

aroldis to the rangers

Mookie 2hrs in 2abs. One more and he breaks the record for most 3hr games. Would not have guessed of all active players, he is the one currently tied for first for this milestone.

Insane this 5’9 man is 40~ hr’s off Bonds at the same point in his career, with Mookie being a season of AB’s behind due to 2020+ a later rookie call-up. Absolutely spoilt as a dodgers fan

*that 40~ number contingent on him making another 17 hr’s on top of his 22 already hit this year

I would have assumed Stanton was the active leader, maybe Cabrera after that.

Mike trout would have been my (boring) guess